Preview

Analysis Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
381 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death
Emily Dickinson uses her poem “Because I could not stop for Death” to personify and introduce death in such a charming way, that the readers are forced to rethink their perception of the commonly feared entity. Dickinson, whose other poems contrast their view of death with this one, introduces a new light for this intriguing and thought provoking poem. An analysis of imagery in Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” shows that death is not the end, but is simply a passing into eternity. Dickinson uses many examples of imagery throughout the poem, with the strongest forms of imagery appealing to the senses of sight and touch. One of the visual images Dickinson portrays is of “The Carriage” that “held but just [themselves] --
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Because I Could Not Stop For Death Summary
    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Because I Could Not Stop For Death Summary

    “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, was first published in 1862. Dickinson was known for writing poetry mainly about death. When we think about death, we imagine something terrifying, but in this poem it is seen in a different perspective. In the poem, the speaker comes upon death, but not in a scary or bad way. Yet, death has approached her in a gentleman-like way. In this poem it’s talked about as a kind human being, who is simply taking her along a journey around town and death is just a stop away. While reading the poem we believe that the speaker is going to her death bed but once we reach the last stanza of the poem, we are left in quite a surprise.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night By Dylan Thomas Analysis
    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night By Dylan Thomas Analysis

    Death is a constant presence in life that can not be escaped and is experienced by everyone. Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night” and Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” and both deal with different perspectives of death. Thomas’s poem looks at death from an external perspective of watching a person die where Dickinson’s poem looks at death through the perspective of a person experiencing death. These perspectives on death show the acceptance of death and eternity and death and disparity of life ending.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Comp 111 poetry essay
    • 1001 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comp 111 poetry essay

    In the poem "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain" Emily Dickinson exposes a person's intense anguish and suffering as they sink into a state of extreme madness. The poem is a carefully constructed analysis of the speaker's own mental experience. Dickinson uses the image of a funeral-service to symbolize the death of the speaker's sanity. Dickinson makes use of vivid imagery that builds in order to convey this abstract idea. One of the best examples is stanza three: “And then I heard them lift a box / And creak across my soul / With those same boots of lead / Then space began to toll” (9-12). At this point the speaker hears the coffin being lifted, being carried across her soul by the mourners, and then all reality seems to hang in suspension. Dickenson promotes the idea that at this point, there is something worse than death, which would be nothingness in her case. It is actually amazing how Dickenson is able to use one literary poetic element to better describe another element. When Dickenson states “Then space began to toll” (12), it's actually in theory opposite of an image itself, but perfectly describes this setting. Imagery is one of the few elements that Emily Dickensen illustrates through her poem.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Explication of Emily Dickinson's Poem: Because I Could Not Stop for Death Essay Example
    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Explication of Emily Dickinson's Poem: Because I Could Not Stop for Death Essay Example

    The poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson expresses the speaker's reflection on death. The poem focuses on the concept of life after death. This poem's setting mirrors the circumstances by which death approaches, and death appears kind and compassionate. It is through the promise of immortality that fear is removed, and death not only becomes acceptable, but welcomed as well. As human beings, we feel that death never comes at a convenient or opportune time. When Dickinson says, "Because I could not stop for Death," she causes the reader to ask why she could not stop. The obvious answer is that she was so wrapped up in her own life that she did not think about death. She makes it clear that it is inescapable, though, when she says, "He kindly stopped for me." The next lines, "The Carriage held but just Ourselves-/And Immortality," signify that the miracle of life is our most precious possession and promises the gift of unending life. Immortality's presence helps to remove fears as we exit the physical world and provides the recipient with the necessary assistance to assure that the transition from reality to spirituality is a pleasant experience. If the promise of immortality did not exist, one would never go along willingly, nor would one welcome death without fear. Death and the speaker ride along with absolutely no concept of the passage of time. They are not hurried, as they have forever to reach their destination. This is stated in the line "We slowly drove-/He knew no haste." Having completed all her earthly chores, the speaker states that they are no longer of any concern to her. Now there is no sewing, cooking, cleaning, farming, or caring for loved ones. The speaker has been allowed the luxury of rest and relaxation, as the next lines reveal: "And I had put away-/My labor had my leisure too." Therefore, the person and death share a reminiscent journey together as they stroll down…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    An Analysis Of Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death
    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page

    An Analysis Of Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop For Death

    Emily Dickinson, a chief figure in American literature, wrote hundreds of poems in her lifetime using unusual syntax and form. Several if not all her poems revolved around themes of nature, illness, love, and death. Dickinson’s poem, Because I could not stop for Death, a lyric with a jarring volta conflates several themes with an air of ambiguity leaving multiple interpretations open for analysis. Whether death is a lover and immortality their chaperone, a deceiver and seducer of the speaker to lead her to demise, or a timely truth of life, literary devices such as syntax, selection of detail, and diction throughout the poem support and enable these different understandings to stand alone.…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis of the Poem “Because I could not stop for death”
    • 1154 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Analysis of the Poem “Because I could not stop for death”

    The short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” from “The Martian Chronicles” written by Ray Bradbury after the second world war deals with a futuristic house which is uninhabited due to a nuclear catastrophe and completely controlled by a computer so that everything works fully automatically. Furthermore it is about uncontrollable nature which cuts its own path - no matter whether there is mankind any longer - and causes a fire to break out which destroys the house completely.…

    • 1154 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Horses Heads Were Toward Eternity
    • 1712 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Horses Heads Were Toward Eternity

    However, in “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” Emily Dickinson creates a safe haven and reminds readers that it is about perception and personal interpretation. When analyzing the poem and only considering the text, there is a dark picture painted. However, when readers begin to use their own inferences, the poem is given a different tone and purpose. The poem enables readers to create their own ideas of death and…

    • 1712 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson Poem Explication: Poem #561
    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Emily Dickinson Poem Explication: Poem #561

    Dickinson’s poem “510: It was not Death, for I stood up,” explores the uncertainties of Death. The speaker attempts to define or understand her own condition to unwrap the cause of her suffering. The use of extended metaphor is utilized as the speaker uses the term “death” and that her life and state of mind, to her, resembles nothing other than death itself. The dominant effect would be the feeling of despair as the speaker represents this by saying “As if my life were shaven, / and fitted to a frame,” or in other words indicating that the speaker’s life has been shaven down solely to despair and that the “frame fitted” would only be feelings of terror. Dickinson frames her poem into 6 quatrains each with the alternations of 8 and 6 syllables per line. The irregular capitalization in the poem is shown with the use of “it” and other terms relating to death, light, dark, cold and somewhat chaotic tragedy.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theme Of Death In Emily Dickinson's Poetry
    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Theme Of Death In Emily Dickinson's Poetry

    Death is an odd thing, humans do not know what waits for them the moment their hearts stop beating, they do not know where they’ll end up going- but death is a common topic. Whether it be in movies or writing, death has made its impression on the world; especially on poet Emily Dickinson. Dickinson’s poems, “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” focus on a consistent theme of death and her own curiosity on what it might be like to die herself. Dickinson’s life and use of the archetypal device have a connection to helping fuel her dreary, death revolving, poetry.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson Diction
    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Emily Dickinson Diction

    There is a multitude of poems written with the theme of death, be it in a positive light or negative. Some poets write poems that depict Death as a spine-chilling inevitable end, others hold respect for this natural occurrence. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, diction and personification is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s cordial friendship with Death.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theme Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death
    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Theme Of Because I Could Not Stop For Death

    How do we foresee death? How do we as humans accept fate, that all living must die? Sometimes its is hard to understand as shown in the poems, Janet waking by John Crowe Ranson, Because I could not stop for death by Emily Dickenson, and Barbie doll by Marge Pierce. Death can be seen differently by everyone and these authors definitely had different views. In the poem “Because I could not stop for death” the author has personified death, as if to make it easier for the reader.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickenson
    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Emily Dickenson

    In the poem, "Because I could not stop for death," Emily Dickenson personifies death as a gentleman who had stopped to pick her up in his horse-driven carriage (18th century). She relates her death and funeral procession to that of a carriage ride with the man, death himself. It is really interesting how in this first stanza she rhymes the two words "me" and "immortality," for she is immortal and the entire theme of this piece is foreshadowed with this literary technique.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Because I Could Not Stop For Death Essay
    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Because I Could Not Stop For Death Essay

    "I first surmised the horses' heads were toward eternity."(Dickinson) In this poem a girl goes on a carriage ride with death and immortality. This carriage ride is very slow and the girl has to gives up a lot for death, almost like he is her family. When she is on this carriage ride she passes many sites that she was too busy to see before. Then death and her stop at a house which looks similar to a grave. Then she dies into eternity. This poem begins with a carriage ride, through many scenes, and ends at the house which becomes her barrel ground. In "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson, the main character is affected by the setting because she has to give up so much for this carriage ride, but then she gets an abundant amount out of it when she sees the many sites, and then in the end when she realizes her journey is over, she is sad to leave the world, but happy that she is going to eternity.…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson Research Paper
    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Emily Dickinson Research Paper

    Throughout the history of human kind, there have existed a significant number of poets, who did not care to write about “happy things.” Rather, they concerned themselves with unpleasant and sinister concepts, such as death. Fascination and personification of death has become a common theme in poetry, but very few poets mastered it as well as Emily Dickinson did. Although most of Dickinson’s poems are morbid, a reader has no right to overlook the aesthetic beauty with which she embellishes her “dark” art. It is apparent that for Dickinson, death is more than an event, which occurs at least once in a lifetime of every being. For her, death is a person, who will take her away with Him, when the right time comes,…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Death In Emily Dickinson's Poetry
    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Death In Emily Dickinson's Poetry

    Emily Dickinson is unquestionably one of the most significant, innovative, and renowned American poets. She did not always receive such high praise, however, as most of her fame and honor was obtained long after she died. While she was alive, she lived most of her life isolated from society as a recluse. During this reclusion, however, she wrote almost eighteen hundred poems, and one of these included “Because I could not stop for Death” (Mays 1187). This is one of her most popular poems and that is in part because it allows the audience to analyze the topic of death and the struggle to come to grip with one’s own demise. The concept of Death is humanized within this poem. “He” is portrayed as a groom and a conductor, as much as he is a robber…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics